COVENTRY City's stars have thrown their full weight behind the threatened PFA strike.

The Sky Blues met union deputy chief executive Brendan Batson yesterday and have unanimously agreed to boycott live televised matches if demands for a five-percent share of TV cash - worth around #25million - are not taken on board.

Players throughout the country are due to be balloted to see if they are prepared to take industrial action this week.

?If the worst comes to the worst we will not be playing in front of the TV cameras.

?This would all be known well in advance of matches and would not be a case of fans turning up for games which were then cancelled.

?This is nothing to do with players being greedy - it is about making sure our union can continue to help lads like Dave Busst and Steve Froggatt whose careers have been ended prematurely.

?They are both still young lads and we all have to face the fact that it could be any one of us. We are only one tackle away from our careers being ruined, and God forbid that tackle ever comes.

?No one wants to strike but we will go ahead with it if we have to. We are being balloted this week and I am confident there will be widespread support from our members at every club. It even involves the foreign play-ers who have their own unions involved.?

Former City defender Busst, who now heads the Sky Blues? Football in the Community scheme, is a recent example of a player whose career was cut short by injury but has been helped by the union to re-train and stay in the game.

?After my injury I went to college to get my coaching qualifications and undertake a welfare programme which was paid for by the PFA,? said Busst who was forced to retire after suffering an horrific compound leg fracture at Old Trafford.

?I also managed to get an early retirement pay out which players do not normally get until they are 35 and I am now involved with a joint initiative with the club to help encourage kids in the game. So the PFA have helped me enormously and I am delighted to see the current players are backing their union.

?The PFA and the club helped me get back on my feet, as they have helped so many players in the past. Something like #12 million was spent on re-training, welfare and education last year and we need to protect the union?s future and get the five per cent the PFA are entitled to.?

Brendan Batson said: ?We have been round to every club to inform the players about the dispute and I am pleased to say that our members at each and every club firmly support us.

?We have had an agreement in place to receive a percentage of TV money since 1955. That was 10-per-cent but it is now down to five.

?We have never had a strike in our history but we have been left in a very difficult position.?